Coffee (Malec Week Day 3: AU Settings)
by Erucchii
Summary: Alec was the unfortunate one who picked the short straw. That means he had to go to the small coffee shop across campus to get coffees. But when he saw the barista behind the cashier, he thought, it might not be so bad after all. (Tumblr Malec Week 7 Days Challenge; Day 3: AU settings)


**Title:** Coffee (Malec Week 7 days challenge; Day 3: AU settings)  
 **A/N:** Yes, I'm aware I'm late. I can't seem to stick to my own schedule /shot But oh well. I won't be able to catch up, but I'm still going to do all 7 damnit. Anyways, enjoy! :D  
 **Summary:** Alec was the unfortunate one who picked the short straw. That means he had to go to the small coffee shop across campus to get coffees. But when he saw the barista behind the cashier, he thought, it might not be so bad after all.  
 **Disclaimer:** I do not own The Mortal Instruments.

* * *

Alec looked at the short straw in his hand, before turning back to the others. Jace and Isabelle both had a smirk on their faces, while Simon had a sheepish look, and Clary looked guilty. "You cheated."

"Aw, of course not, brothermine," Isabelle exclaimed, grinning.

Alec narrowed his eyes. He looked at each of them one by one, before finally his gaze fell upon the redhead. "Clary?"

"We colour coded the straws so that we know which one is the shortest straw," she blurted out, and blushed. Because of this she earned herself a sigh from her boyfriend, Jace, and best friend, Simon, and a glare from Isabelle.

Alec rolled his eyes, before staring at the other four people in the lab they were using at Columbia University. He and Jace were working on building a robot for a project, when Isabelle, Clary, and Simon decided to join them in the lab. He looked at them suspiciously for a moment, before saying, "I don't' know what you're planning but I don't want any parts in it."

"We just wanted some coffee, Alec," Jace told his adopted brother, trying to sound as innocent as possible, all the while having a smirk on his face.

The look on Alec's face was one of disbelief, but later he sighed in resignation. "Fine, I'll do the coffee run this time."

* * *

The coffee shop was just across the campus, a short less-than-five-minutes walk. It was family-owned, called Charlotte's Café. There was the familiar chime of the bell when he entered. Sophie, one of the baristas, gave him a smile before turning back to clear a table.

There were not many people at that time of the day, so the queue wasn't long. He stood in line, and took out his phone to look at everyone's order, and replying to the text Isabelle sent. He was so engrossed in his phone; he didn't realize it was his turn.

"Darling, you can come closer, you know? I won't bite."

Alec's head immediately snapped up, and blushed. Realizing what the barista addressed him as, he blushed even darker. Awkwardly, he walked towards the counter. He didn't recognize the barista, so he probably just started. However, he did notice how good looking the barista was, and his slender frame— Alec shook his head. Where the hell did that come from?

"So, what would you like, darling?" the barista said with a grin.

Alec stared at the man with wide eyes. The guy was flirting with him, right? He may not be good with social cues but he was sure that the guy was flirting. "I want you—I mean, I want two mocha, large; one caffé frappé with whipped cream, one chai latte, and one large coffee, black," he said in one breath, mortified by his earlier slip of tongue.

The man chuckled. "And your name?"

"A-Alec… My name is Alec." Alec wished a hole would open and swallow him right about now.

"Right, Alexander it is."

"What?"

"Alec is short for Alexander, isn't it?"

"Well, yes. How did you know?"

"Lucky guess," he shrugged. "I'm Magnus, by the way."

Alec smiled. "I'm Alec."

"I know," Magnus gave him an amused smile. He wrote Alec's name on the cups, before giving the order list to Jem, another barista that worked there. Then, he rang Alec up.

The bell chimed, indicating a new customer had just comes in, while Alec was paying. So, Alec awkwardly said, "Well, it was nice…meeting you. I'll just—I'll just wait at the side."

"You do that, darling," Magnus replied, with a wink.

Alec could feel his ears turning red, and he immediately walked away. He swore he could hear Magnus's soft chuckle.

It took almost ten minutes for Jem to finish making all the drinks he ordered. He exchanged a few words with the brunette before leaving, and if he noticed the amused look Jem gave him, well, he tried not to think about it.

While walking, he took his cup of black coffee in his free hand and was about to drink it when he saw the note at the side of the cup, near the scrawl of _Alexander._ It was a phone number, and the note says:

 _Call me, darling. —Magnus_

This time, Alec knew that he was blushing all the way down his neck. He had a sinking feeling that Isabelle had a hand behind this, but he would deal with that later. He stared at the number for a minute or two before committing it to memory.

* * *

Jem leaned against the counter, his hands crossed over his chest, and an amused look on his face. He looked at Magnus, who was still at his post near the cash register. "What was that about?"

"What was what about?"

Jem shook his head when Magnus played dumb. "The flirting with Alec."

"Jealous, Carstairs?" Magnus grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Jem snorted. "I have my own beau, thank you. _And_ a girlfriend."

"I still can't believe the three of you ended up in a threesome relationship," Magnus told his childhood friend.

Jem laughed. Then, he said, "Back to the original topic, whatever it is you're doing, Magnus, don't chase him away, okay? Alec's a regular, and Charlotte would be furious if you chase him away."

"Aye, aye, captain."

Jem left to the back room to get more pastries, when Magnus received a text. He fished out his phone from his pocket, and read the message.

 _You're awesome, Magnus. My brother seemed to be lost in his thought with a weird smile on his face after he returned from the coffee run._

 _Isabelle_

Magnus was grinning when he replaced the phone is his pocket. He couldn't wait for his night shift tomorrow, knowing full well that Alec would be there too. Tomorrow was music night, and Charlotte always had live bands playing every week. Simon, Isabelle's boyfriend, and his band would be performing tomorrow, and Isabelle always dragged Alec there for moral support.

He whistled softly to himself, and for the first time in a very long time, he really wished that Alec would decide to call him. Alec was sweet and cute, and different. It would be nice to get to know him, even if the latter only wanted to be friends.

* * *

 **A/N: So, what do you think? Reviews please? You don't have to, but I'll love you even more if you do haha**


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